FOREST AND STREAM. 



107 



carpenters, painters, shoemakers, and perhaps others who 

 ■would not wish the care of large farms : and as there would 

 be likely also to be several of limited meaus unable to buy 

 much laud, or who would join the colony for the purpose of 

 working for the larger farmers, it is believed that the propor- 

 tion of small farms is not too large. It is assumed that the 

 entire plot is rich arable land, and that little, if any, need for 

 some time at. least bo reserved for pasturage, as the cattle 

 roam at will over the almost limitless prairies. Hence a farm 

 of forty acres would be equivalent to one two, three, or even 

 four times as large in the Eastern or Middle States, and twen- 

 ty acres well-tilled would more than suffice to supply au ordi- 

 uary family with the leading food staples. Of course the 

 school, church, store, and miscellaneous industries would 

 chiefly coucentrate near the public square. A steam grist- 

 mill, and (if located in the cotton-growing district a cotton 

 press, gin) movable threshing machine, etc., would be desira- 

 ble, especially for the smaller farmers. The larger farmers 

 would have their own cotton press, gin, reaping and i 

 threshing machine,, and would furnish employnn .it roi s me 

 of the colonists, or for laborers owning little or no land. The 

 owners of the small farms would find it convenient to avail 

 themselves of the machinery, trains, etc., of the larger ones, or 

 to " exchange wort; " in breaking up land, harvesting, etc. 

 Those who wish to pursue stock rawing or general planting 

 on a large scale could secure land outside the village by lease 

 or purchase. 



It may be urged that the larger farms are located so remote 

 from the central square as to render the plan inequitable. 

 But it must be remembered that any mode of subdivision 

 which placed large fauns in the centre would destroy the vil- 

 lage character of t he colony. Tf Messrs. Smith. Brown and 

 Robinson insist, upon having three or (our hundred acres each 

 immediately adjoining the public square, it will throw at least 

 two-thirds of the colony three-quarters of a mile and more 

 from the centre, and destroy the leading object of the whole 

 plan. Large farms properly and of necessity belong outside 

 of villages, and if those who own large bodies of land would 

 enhance their value, by encouragiug the establishment of vil- 

 lages, they must accommodate all the members of the com- 

 munity as far as possible. The Mennonites seek to preserve 

 the community plan, by giving their farms a very narrow 

 fronton one long avenue, and making them correspondingly 

 deep as to size. But they rarely desire large farms, and a 

 tract of more than eighty or a hundred acres laid out in this 

 way would be so deep as to be inconvenient in farm opera- 

 tions. The larger farmers might require several herdsmen 

 or croppers, whom it might, not be desirable to make members 

 of the colony. They would necessarily be required to live 

 further from the centre than the regulai colonists tor conve- 

 nience in reaching their herd or their crop. These could be 

 located at points indicated by three stars, either as tenants or 

 owners of such plots as the owners of the farms might be die- 

 posed to sell to them. Thev would be about a mile and a 

 half from the public square in a direct line, or two miles by 

 the avenue, to which there should be a lane, as indicated by 

 the dotted line, as well for the convenience of the croppers 

 as for the farmers whose lands connect with it. These settle- 

 ments would comprise families of congenial tastes and condi- 

 tion, who would be heller satisfied with this partial isolation 

 than to be on the public avenues. All large farming districts 

 abound in this class of settlers, who iu some parts of the 

 South have been designated by the whites as Crackers, and 

 by the blacKs as "poor white trash." But they serve s raltt' 

 able purpose at last iu the social economy, and are far more 

 useful and worthy citizens than a large class of coarse, noisy 

 idlers, which abound iu almost all towns and cities. 



IEO 



e40 



o ao loo 140 



35 35 



rpiir 



jhC 



35 as 



140 100 80 10(1 14-0 



PLA11 OT SMALLER COLONY. 



120 

 ZA0 



Should it be desirable to sink an Artesian well it should be 

 located near the square and the water conveyed in pipes or 

 logs along each avenue to every house. The public square 

 and the avenues should be at once bordered by trees (if in the 

 southwest, the eucalyptus and willow being rapid growers 

 ami effective absorbents or neulralizers of malarial poison, 

 are believed to be preferable). 



A diagram is presented of a smaller colony, of twenty- si. v 

 families, located on a tract of about 2,500 acres, the residences 

 being located on four avenues, forming a square of three- 

 fifths of a mile in extent ; the centre of the Equare to 

 be laid out in a public plaza, surrounded by town lots, 

 as in the Farmville diagram, with eight small farms of 

 thirty to forty acres in extent, occupying the area between the 

 avenues and the public square. The advantages of this plan 

 are that it can be readily modified to suit a larger or smaller 

 number of colonists, and by reducing the extent of the cen- 

 tral area, would be found an admirable plan for adoption by 

 a half dozen or more large farmers, who might thus have 

 several hundred acres each, and s-t ill all live within a mile or 

 less of each other. Those who have traveled in the Southern 

 States or in many portions of the West, will realize how a 

 neglect of some plan or system in the early settlement of the 

 country has isolated the population and rendered the success- 

 ful establishment of a public school system a problem of 

 most difficult solution. 



A colony such as we have indicated, if located in an un- 

 settled district, and especially in the great grazing region of 

 Kansas or Texas, would at once bloom out like an oasis in 



and would soon attract ranchmen and others, who 

 would gladly purchase lots and erect houses, where (heir 

 families might enjoy the advantages of civilization and refine- 

 ment. In the progress of time, should a Tadroad be located 

 through the tract, a depot might be established, and our rural 

 farm village, at once assume the importance of a thriving busi- 

 ness centre. But without any such agency, the location of 

 fifty families in the centre of a body of land five, ten or twen- 

 ty thousand acres in extent, could not fail greatly to enhance 

 the value of the whole and make each individual investment 

 much more valuable than it could possibly be if the colonists 

 were scattered without system or co-operation. 



This plan is predicated on the ability of every member of 

 the colony to make his own location, erect his buildings, and 

 raise his first crop without assistance. To do this, ready cash 

 of at least a few hundred dollars would be absolutely essen- 

 tial. It is believed that capitalists would find the formation 

 of such colonies, with moderate loans to such as require it, 

 a much safer and more profitable investment than ordinary 

 enterprises in the older States afford. The enhanced value of 

 reserved sections would insure a good profit on the original 

 cost of the land, and the improvements made by settlers 

 would afford the amplest security for money advanced on the 

 purchase and improvements, But to secure the highest ad- 

 vantage from the colony system of emigration, the members 

 should each possess sufficient means to establish themselves 

 on an untrammeled footing, and should be persons of such 

 congenial tastes and public spirit as would make the improve- 

 ment and progress of the village a general inspiration. Thus 

 they will at once enter upon the independence and thrift of 

 farm life, without incurring the anxieties incident to debt, 

 and without divorcing themselves from the refining influences 

 and privileges to which they have been accustomed. Thus 

 will our ideal Farmville become a model of rural comfort and 

 prosperity. 



No reference has been made to the influence of the colony 

 system of emigration upon the development of diversified in- 

 dustries. Thirty or forty thrifty farmB will soon furnish sta- 

 ples for a cotton or woolen mill, a merchant flouring mill, a 

 tannery, wheelwright shop, and other useful enterprises ; and 

 thus will the development of manufactures go hand in hand 

 with agricultural progress. 



Aside from the advantages of a village settlement in the re- 

 lations of social life, a very material saving can always be 

 made by purchasing a large body of land. Special rates can 

 also be secured with the various railroad companies for the 

 transportation of colonies and their effects. The saving in 

 this way to a large family will amount to the value, of a good 

 many acres of laDd. In the purchase of lumber, building 

 materials and farm implements a colony will command the 

 discount accorded to the wholesale buyer, and afford material 

 protection against imposition, since the trade and good will 

 of its members would be objects worth retaining. Of course, 

 a wise discretion should always be exercised in the selection 

 of agents to purchase land or other property, and experience 

 has shown that it, is always the wisest policy for each colo- 

 nist to make his own payments, receive and control bis own 

 deed, and, as far as possible, avoid all opportunity for fraud 

 or speculation by the projectors or agents of the colony, the 

 object being to make the mutual or colony feature simply an 

 auxiliary to individual interest and action. Where colonies 

 are formed by capitalists under stipulated conditions, of 

 course it will be necessary to surrender somewhat of the in- 

 dependence which a settler feels whose means render credit 

 unnecessary. And only capitalists who are persons of known 

 probity and liberality stiould receive the confidence or co-op- 

 eration of even the humblest settler. Thousands of honest 

 emigrants have been duped and robbed by greedy and unscru- 

 pulous " land sharks " and their agents^ and it is believed 

 that no surer method of defeating their schemes can be de- 

 vised than the adoption by intending emigrants of the colony 

 plan of settlement. S. A. Atkinson. 



$aclitittg and Routing* 



HTGH WATER FOB THE WEEK. 



Men. 

 Moll. 



M. li. 



nun, 



Mcli. 



Mrh. 



Men. 



THE YAWL RIG ON SAN FRANCISCO 

 BAY. 



_ 8ak Fkanosioo, March 1, 1879. 



Editor Forest and Stbsam; 



There is one rig which possesses many advantages which 

 will bear discussion among Corinthian yachtsmen. I refer to 

 the yawl rig, which has at least become recognized in San 

 Francisco Bay as one no longer to be lightly spoken of by 

 that large class, who poke fun at everything' of which they 

 have no personal knowledge. Having advocated the former 

 rig against prejudiced arguments for so long, it is a satisfac- 

 tion at last to see it come to the front far enough at least to be 

 considered and impartially discussed. 



As the builder of the first one of the modern style of yawl 

 yachts on San Francisco Bay, and with an experience of some 

 four years in sailing and taking care of her myself, 1 think that 

 perhaps your many yachting readers who like to handle then- 

 own boats might be interested in a description of the rig with 

 some details of the advantages further than those stated in 

 your article in Fqbbst and Btbeam of October 31. where by 

 the way, you refer only to the English yawl. As I do 'not 

 suppose many of your readers are familiar with San Francisco 

 Bay or its peculiarities, it may be well, at the risk of tres- 

 passing on your space, to mention the circumstance under 

 which we sail in this point of the world, for they have a bear- 

 ing on the question, inasmuch as they have called forth what 

 may be termed the Americanized yawl in use here. 



San Francisco Bay proper covers an area ot 290 square miles. 

 San Pablo Bay is merely a continuation of it, and with the 

 Straits of Carquenez gives us 130 square miles more. Above 

 the Straits is fcuisun Bay, which to the confluence of the Sac- 

 ramento and San Joaquin Kivcrs ia sixty miles more, or a total 

 of 480 square miles. A wide sheet of "water, say you, and a 

 good place for yachtsmen. When you come to add ilie num- 

 ber ess navigable creeks and sloughs emptying into the bay 

 and meandering through the tule lands that border the bay 



and extend beside the rivers, you will see that our sailing 

 space, although all inland, is somewhat extended. We can 

 sail from San Francisco north to Sacramento, 120 miles, and 

 south to Alviso, thirty-five miles; so any one who starts from 

 the latter place can have loo" miles of sailing on inland bay 

 and river at a stretch, or he may go for over 200 miles up the 

 San Joaquin River, if he chooses, in a light draught boat. So 

 much for our cruising grounds. 



Now wo come to our - winds, of which we often have 80 

 much that we would like to spare a little for some of the oc- 

 casional drifting matches of which we read in your part of 

 the country. Here such a thing never occurs. Our north- 

 west summer winds begin in April, and blow straight on end 

 until October calms their ardor. Our average afternoon 

 breezes blow about twenty-four miles, and from that up 

 1o thirty miles per hour. In the channel, where we 

 take our afternoon sails on the way to and lrom the 

 club-house at Saucelito, and where the winds have full 

 sweep through the Golden Gate, which we cross, they aver- 

 age for one month in the year, from ] 1 a. m. to 8 r. m , some 

 thirty miles per hour. Before and after that they subside 

 somewhat. To show the regularity of these strong breezes 

 one instimce will suffice. The old Lotus Club sailed on a 

 yacht of that name every Saturday afternoon in the summer 

 for seven consecutive years. We never once in all that lime 

 failed to get back across the channel and home by evening, 

 A steam yacht couldn't beat that for regularity, as she would 

 have broken down more than once in that, period. Our 

 highest monthly velocity of winds is in July— about thirty 

 tniles-and in December it is only from twelve to fourteen miles. 

 In fact we lay up our yachts in winter af ler A few up-river 

 cruises for ducks, more on account of lack of wind than any- 

 thing else ; for often for weeks at a time iu that season the 

 surface of the bay is never ruffled with a breeze, though we 

 have our winter gales occasionally. We never have any 'snow, 

 as you know. When you remember that the tides from 

 this immense bay must flow and ebb through the Golden Gate, 

 which is only a mile wide, you will know what our currents 

 are in the lower bay. Observations prove that there is seven 

 times as large a body of water passing through the Golden 

 Gate in a given time than the Mississippi curries past New 

 Orleans. 



These strong winds of ours, and the consequent sea they 

 kick up, combined with our strong tides, render a sly] 

 boat necessary here which is different from that preferred for 

 bay and river sailing with you. Moreover, we have found 

 the sloops to be so unprofitable that we have made up our 

 minds to schooners or yawls. 



During the past twenty years a great number of the smaller 

 class of cat-boats — or plungers, as we call them— and several 

 sloop yachts, have been brought to this port frow New ifork j 

 hut, without a single exception, every one of them had to 

 have her spars and canvas reduced after a trial or two. Others 

 have been built here by those who had their sailing experience 

 elsewhere and ignored the experience of other people, and in 

 all those cases canvas and spars had to be reduced ; and even 

 with the sloops built for regular use here, with very small 

 sails compared with those you use, they occasionally have 

 rusty times out in the channel. Of course for smaller sized 

 yachts schooners are not just the thing on account of the mast 

 in the cabin, the narrow strip of canvas for foresail, and 

 other objections which I will not trespass on your space to de- 

 tail, but which will be recognized by any one that hss used 

 them. We have, therefore, to a certsin extent adopl 

 yawl-rig, the advantages of which I propose to detail, 

 mising that I speak from my own experience in a small yacht 

 which I have handled and taken care of myself ever since I 

 had her built. It may also be premised that we do not by any 

 means pretend to be the originator of the yawl-rig, which has 

 long been known in England and elsewhere, but we have im- 

 proved upon and Americanized it to a certain extent, so as to 

 render it more practicable and handy. In this shape its 

 success has been such that we now have more yawls 

 than any yacht club in America, and their number is 

 increasing a3 their merits become known. Of course we have 

 a good many schooners, but the sloops are gradually be'mg 

 turned into yawls. The spring will see but one sloop left m 

 the San Francisco Yacht Club. 



The yawl rig simply consists of a mainmast set perhaps a 

 little further forward than it would be in a sloop, and made 

 somewhat lighter. On this is an ordinary mainmsail and jib, the 

 main boom, however, only extending aft as far as the after 

 end of the cockpit. Either inside or outside of the cockpit 

 rail is stepped the driver mast, which carries a leg-of-mutton 

 or Bermudian driver. A small spar called the " boomkin " 

 (or '-bumpkin," as some style it), rests on the deck and ex- 

 tends outward over the stern, and through a block on its outer 

 end is rove the sheet controlling the driver. The main boom 

 is made of a length sufficient to just clear the driver mast as 

 the boom swings. The jib sheets may lead aft, the main 

 sheet cleat is under the cockpit rail and secured to it, and the 

 driver sheet leads on to a cleat placed at any convenient point 

 by the heel of the driver mast. Thus the sheets controlling 

 all three sails are close by the helmsman's hands, which would 

 not be the case with a schooner. With a flying jib those 

 sheets can lead aft also as mine do. The traveler is on the 

 cockpit, rail, and none is needed for the driver. 



An English yawl differs but little, if any, from an ordinary 

 cutter as far as her head-sails are concerned. You have des- 

 cribed that so fully that it is understood by those who have 

 never handled one. A very small mast 18 stepped near the 

 taffrail, the whole of the "jigger," or driver, projecting over 

 the stern with a sprit or other peak sail upon it, the shape of 

 the mainsail, of course, being regulated accordingly. Ibis 

 shortens up main boom materially, but they use pretty much. 

 the same sized gaff they would with a long main boom, It 

 is a favorite method to change a cuttci into" a yawl for cruis- 

 ing, by simply changing the mainsail and boom and stepping 

 a driver mast. Then when they are on for racing they change 

 back again, recognizing in this, however, the "comfort and 

 convenience of the yawl for cruising purposes. 



We, on the other hand, step the mainmast in about the 

 same position as on an ordinary American sloop, or a little 

 forward perhaps, depending, of course, on the build of the 

 hull, position of centreboard, etc. We also carry a 

 jib, as iu an ordinary American sloop, with a long bowsprit 

 to extend the sail well on the foot. Our galls are of mode- 

 rate length iu proportion to the boom, and we give our main- 

 sails more hoist than is done on a cutter. The driver-mast is 

 Stepped as near the rudder-head as possible, forward or s 

 it, but if forward, an elbow on the tiller is necessary. There 

 is no objection to this in the world, mine being made that 

 Way, The curve comes under the deck and does not show. 

 The rudder-head is commonly kept below the deck, so as to 

 give the driver-mast the necessary deck support. Wc have 

 it to advantage to discard the. peak or gaffaail and 

 adopt the Bermudian or leg-of-mutton driver in preference, so 

 as to extend the foot further out and keep the centre of effort 



